Going into this race I knew it was going to be a sea of pink, so I showed up in what I refer to as my "Naked Maleficent" run costume: a Sparkle Athletic visor with Maleficent horns, black sports bra, Sparkle Athletic skirt and purple ProCompression socks. I knew that running shirtless wouldn't be something most folks were doing, just like I knew running in pink was something that most folks would be doing.

Yet somehow I was NOT prepared. Everything was PINK. Even the handful of dudes present were decked out in pink... so if you have a pink aversion, definitely, shy away from this race. Shirtless and not in pink, in the end I definitely stood out like a sore thumb!

Notes:
- I worked the expo both in 2014 and in 2015.
- BibRave has it right as "San Francisco Burlingame," while the Run Like a Diva series calls this race San Francisco. Don't expect to run through the city, because this is not a true SF race.
- I don't recall the aid stations for this event, so I didn't rate them. They did have aid stations, and there's a final "aid station" before the finish where you can deck yourself out in a tiara and a pink feather boa if you so choose.
- Spoiler alert: I heard that the guys at these races who hand out the medals aren't necessarily what they're dressed as. For example, I know real SF Fire Dept. gents, and they were not the shirtless gents in fireman pants at the finish line handing out medals. If you're not into shirtless dudes, there is no other way to get your medal.

Perks:
- There were a TON of walkers I saw, so if you're not a runner, or if you're an entry level runner, there's no "oh gosh, everyone is going to leave me in the dust and I'll get swept" fear necessary.
- Woman-centric event (which as a woman, I appreciated.) Men are welcome but there sure aren't very many of them.
- Lots of costumes (superheroes, for example) and other festive apparel on course, which I always see as a perk because not every event has to be a super serious Boston Marathon qualifier.
- Bibs are customized if you register in time to say "Diva [Name of choice.]"
- The bling is BIG and you get champagne at the finish line. Cheers!

Bummers:
- There is an expo but it isn't very big, and it's at a hotel.
- If you can't make it out to the expo, there's no day-of pick-up. I had to have a friend pick my bib up for me and she hid it at the starting line for me to grab.
- While you do run along the water, I don't recall the course itself being all that thrilling. Maybe I was just super focused on the fact that I was literally the last half marathoner to start and I had to chase down the sag wagon in my first mile. After that you can imagine how my race went.
- As a runner who had a late start, while it's awesome people were walking, there were so many people walking, especially in groups, that in narrow portions of the course I had to do a lot of weaving, running slightly off the path to get around them and a lot of "on your left/right" yelling that no one seemed to heed.

Overall, if you're thinking about the half as an option I'd deem this a good choice if you want a pretty flat local run and don't want to hit up an event that is Rock'n Roll sized. If you're a serious runner, or at least a runner who doesn't want to get caught behind walkers, definitely corral yourself maybe a touch faster than you think you'll actually be running to prevent extraneous weaving.

Full recap here:
2014 - http://littlebeastling.com/2014/03/08/archive-sfdiva/